The term breeding refers to the natural process of reproduction, involving spawning—the process of releasing and depositing eggs —, and hatching—bringing forth larvae from the egg. It differs from the process of rearing insects, which refers to the process of tending insects from baby-larvae to mature larvae, and possibly also including pupating and emerging into beetles.
Commonly known methods for breeding insects involve the provision of spawning containers adapted to receive adult insects and insect food. In each spawning container one or more removable spawn structures are provided, in which the mother insects will spawn their eggs. Most species will just drop the eggs to the ground, in which event the spawn structure may be a tissue or the like, but other species will stick it in the ground or glue it to the spawning container or other parts, e.g. leaves or other structures provided for. The spawn structure or parts thereof holding the eggs is removable. The eggs are thus harvested and allowed to hatch in a hatch area.
From WO2014171829 a method and system for rearing insects is known, referring to the process of tending insects from baby-larvae to mature larvae. In a climate area, stacked crates with immature phases of insects are arranged in rows. Periodically, individual crates are conveyed to a feed area provided with an observation station. Based on the observation of a retrieved individual crate it is determined whether supplementary feed stock is to be added, or that the insects are withdrawn from further rearing for harvesting, or discarding from further rearing.
The use of insects for human consumption being an emerging trend in the Western world, there is a desire for up-scaling insect breeding facilities.